The invention relates to an inserting apparatus for inserting documents into envelopes, the apparatus comprising an envelope holder for holding an envelope at least in a document inserting position being an open position of a first upstream end of the envelope for receiving a document, a document inserting path arranged upstream of the envelope holder for feeding at least one document to the envelope in a document inserting direction, an envelope opening device comprising at least one opening element adapted to be inserted in the envelope to move an envelope throat and an envelope body away from each other to bring the envelope in the open position, the opening element comprising an opening element inserting finger arranged to be inserted in an inner space of the envelope.
Such an inserting apparatus is known from practice and may further comprise a document displacement arrangement for displacement of the document at least along the document inserting path into the envelope. Such a displacement arrangement comprises at least one displacement element that is adapted to push the document into the envelope. A drawback of such an inserting apparatus is that in operation it is not certain if the at least one opening element is actually brought into the inner space of the envelope. Consequently, it is not certain if the envelope throat and the envelope body are moved away from each other such that a document to be inserted can be easily inserted in the envelope. The opening element may for instance be moved towards the envelope but due to several reasons is not able to reach into the envelope. The envelope will not be brought in the open position, which can result in a document jam in the inserting apparatus, wherein the document to be inserted may be damaged. Such a jam can be removed by the operator of the inserting apparatus, which is a time costly and thus expensive operation. Furthermore, in case the document is damaged too badly, a replacement document has to be provided. This is especially not desired in case of addressed documents. It is further known from practice to provide the inserting apparatus with a sensor to detect if the opening element did open the envelope throat. However, a drawback of the availability of such a sensor is that in case the envelope width has to be changed, the settings of the apparatus have to be adapted to that new envelope width to be used in the apparatus. Consequently, the sensor settings have to be adapted such that the transmitted signal receives the receiver of the sensor. Adjustment of the settings takes time and can result in mistakes and thus in paper jams. Consequently, a risk of disturbance of the inserting process still exists.